later,’ said Simon. ‘She also found out that no one was at home on weekdays – Elise and Mr, whatever his name is, worked full-time, and the baby was at nursery. Wouldn’t it be a laugh, Jackie says to Bowskill, if we used their house as if it was already ours? Almost like staking a claim as the true owners – the ones who know what’s going on, in contrast to the deluded Gilpatricks who only think they’re in control and don’t realise that the house isn’t really theirs. Now do you see why Jackie made sure to befriend Elise Gilpatrick? She needed to be seen at the house, often, with Elise, so that no one suspected anything when they saw her there in the daytime. Friends have each other’s keys, don’t they?’
‘She’d also have wanted to guarantee that, if and when the Gilpatricks decided to move to a house with a garden, they’d ask her to handle the sale of 18 Pardoner Lane instead of going to another estate agent,’ Sam pointed out.
‘Right,’ said Simon. ‘Which they duly did, last year. That’s when Jackie’s plan started to cave in around her ears. When she tells Bowskill the Gilpatricks are finally moving, he doesn’t react as she expects him to. She’s all proud of herself, bragging about how clever she was, finding her friend Elise the perfect house. Instead of saying, “Great, nice job” and buying 18 Pardoner Lane, Bowskill starts asking about the house the Gilpatricks are moving to. By now his envy of the Gilpatricks has become ingrained – he’s lived with it for six years. All that time he’s been reading the letters they’ve left lying around, rifling through their personal stuff – he knows what’s in their bathroom cabinet, what’s in their minds, probably. If they’re happy, he senses their happiness. It disturbs him. Enrages him. But he can’t stop, can’t help immersing himself in their life and envying it. They have a real life and he doesn’t – he’s attracted to what he knows he’s incapable of being and . . . having. The Gilpatricks are the usurpers, the winners who bagged the big prize. If they’ve suddenly found somewhere they think is better, what does that say about 18 Pardoner Lane? Maybe it’s not the perfect house after all, if the winners no longer want to live there. Sam, you mentioned a transfer of obsession – this is the moment when it happened, the transfer moment: Bowskill decides it’s not about the house any more, it’s about triumphing over the Gilpatricks by getting the thing they want.’
‘So he’s a nutter, then, Kit Bowskill?’ said Charlie. ‘A fully fledged nutter.’
‘That’s one way to look at it,’ Simon said. ‘Another is to see him as practical. Adaptable. Think about it: if he doesn’t divert his obsession at this point and start to obsess about 12 Bentley Grove, what does he do? Buy 18 Pardoner Lane? Connie’s the one he wants to be with, not Jackie. Jackie boosts his ego and works well as a means to an end, but Bowskill knows the difference between a quality product and a piece of shoddy crap – he knows Connie’s the first and Jackie’s the second. If he and Connie buy 18 Pardoner Lane and move in, what does he tell Jackie? “Sorry, thanks for all your help, but my wife will take over now”? Jackie’s not going to sit back and take that, is she? She’s going to tell Connie about the affair, do her best to destroy the marriage.’
Charlie tried not to mind that Simon had described Connie Bowskill as a quality product.
‘So Bowskill transfers his obsession to 12 Bentley Grove . . .’ Sam began tentatively.
‘He persuades Jackie to buy 18 Pardoner Lane,’ said Simon. ‘Tells her it’s a way of them having both houses, tells her to copy the keys for 12 Bentley Grove before she hands them over, and they can start the whole adventure again – invade the Gilpatricks’ new house like they invaded the old one. Jackie does as she’s told, and they get into a new routine – weekday meetings at 12 Bentley Grove, maybe the odd one at 18 Pardoner Lane too, to help Bowskill believe in his Cambridge empire. And a new impossible perfection-centred goal, because he has to maintain the fantasy, always, that he’s working towards the ultimate victory. He asks Jackie if, theoretically, she thinks she could persuade the Gilpatricks to move again. By this point, if